Shout out to my friends at World 8, they just won being the Best Game Store from LA Weekly."Everyone loves an independent bookstore, but World 8 is something even rarer: an independent video game store. Opened by gamer geek siblings Monse, Edgar and Israel in August 2011, World 8 stands out in a sea of GameStops. Inside, local kids recline on couches in front of big-screen TVs and happily beat the tar out of each other on-screen — no hustling customers away from demo units here. The store runs a brisk business in new and used video games, and you can trade in that old copy of Uncharted 3 for a respectable price. For gamers who grew up blowing dust out of cartridges, World 8 also deals in the vintage classics, ranging from River City Ransom to Conker's Bad Fur Day. The crowds pack the store for Friday Night Sissy Fights, an arcade-rules affair heavy on fighting games and trash talk. In an age when most kids berate one another via headsets over the Internet, there's something deeply comforting about hearing a teenager hoot in laughter as his friend goes down in defeat. 1057 S. Vermont Ave., Koreatown. (213) 389-5212, world8.us.—Jake Swearingen"
